(bell dinging) - Is religion necessary
if only presence matters? Is there a place for going
to church and following in the steps of Jesus if
only presence is important? The question is specifically about focusing on Christian religion,
but the answer I suppose, I don't know what the
answer is going to be, but it's going to be, probably also refer to other religions, religions in general. Is religion necessary? It depends who you are
on the level of the firm. For some people, it can
be necessary or helpful for two reasons, it can provide to the
more superficial reason, it can give your life a
certain amount of structure which for some people can be
helpful, regular practice, gives you a feeling of comfort. Some people have too little
structure in their lives and others have too much already. More importantly on another
level religion can either obscure the spiritual
dimension within yourself and often it does, or if used rightly, if approached rightly, if
understood on a deeper level, it can help you access and stay in connectedness with
a deeper level of yourself or the transcendent
dimension of consciousness. Whether or not you need
it only you can know, whether you find it either
helpful or a hindrance, it can be either, depends on you as a person, your past, what function it had in
your past, and so on. It is a hindrance, if
religion becomes an ideology. Then it operates only on
the level of the mind, and is very similar to
any other kind of ideology that you may believe in, whether it's communism as an ideology or any political theory or anything that explains the universe, it could be a metaphysical
system that you completely believe in, philosophical
system and so on. So an ideology is something that takes possession of your mind and exerts a controlling function, and it can influence almost
your entire mental functioning if it becomes something of
overwhelming power in your mind. It's a little thought that grows into a huge thing in your mind, and the tentacles reach into
every aspect of your mind, and there are religious people like that. Usually, you can recognize
that it is an ideology by the fact that they are
not peaceful human beings, (softly chuckles ) and by the fact that they have enemies either within their own
religion, or another religion. Anybody who does not
agree with their ideology becomes an enemy, in
the same way that people who are not nowadays that many, were deeply believing in communism, which was a wonderful idea
to start with, of course. The road to hell is paved
with good intentions. It was a beautiful idea of equality, everybody the same, that is wonderful, no personal possessions,
also wonderful too, and the only mistake was, it was imposed from outside
by people who themselves has not gone beyond the
egoic state of consciousness, they just played it in
their mind and as in that's a good idea, and then it was imposed on other people, who also were not in that
state of consciousness, but most importantly, those
who imposed the idea on others, forced them to live it out. The idea became contaminated with ego. So, when these people came to power, their egos became inflated
to an enormous degree, all lost to absurdity,
and without realizing it they reenacted the same evils, and in some cases worse than those that they
were fighting against. Like in Russia they saw
the injustices associated with the Tsar regime and so on, and they truly saw that and they truly wanted to remove that and
that seemed a good thing, but they had overlooked their
own state of consciousness. And the great silence is for people power, you can have that a very
meek person who seems, oh, this is what a lovely person, he seems to have no ego
or very little, he's so, give that person power. Then the latent ego, which was there in a, let's say a person is very
poor, has no power at all, give that poor person
power and the latent ego will no longer be latent, it
will certainly come to life. And that happens, is repeated
and has been repeated many, many times in
countries where frequently the government is overthrown,
and then the previous rulers are accused of corruption, and the new people who
overthrow the previous, they truly believe that
now they have a just, a more just society is going
to arrive because again, they don't know themselves, they have not observed themselves and the moment they achieve power, they are seduced by that and
their ego suddenly grows, (dramatically blowing lip bubbles) and they re-enact the same thing again. (laughing softly) So ideology, religion can turn into, and often does turn into an ideology. You can recognize it, as I said, by the fact that these
people are not peaceful, they will condemn other people
or other groups of people as evil, (clears throat)
they may verbally, even physically attack others, and if it's not that extreme, it might be that they simply
are extremely intolerant towards anybody who does not
share their belief system, their ideology. And so, that's clear sign
that that kind of religion is a hindrance to the spiritual dimension, to knowing who you are, to
being a peaceful human being. It's in the service of the
ego, it's in egoic creation. The ego can take scriptures
that are beautiful and point to the truth,
and can corrupt them, completely misread and misinterpret them, and then they're used in
the service of the ego. So, that's how religion can
become a huge hindrance, but religion can also become an opening into the spiritual dimension. So a religious practice, or a religious reading, a
reading of a sacred text, an ancient spiritual text,
can be a wonderful thing. The question that mentions Jesus, following in the steps of Jesus, is that or is only presence important? When you use it in a deeper sense, following in the steps of
Jesus means becoming present. How? First of all, Jesus told presence in quite a few obvious utterances, starting from the flower, that you should really look at a flower and see how it lives in the present moment without worry and anxiety. He told ego listeners, "Deny thyself," which means recognize the
unreality of yourself. He spoke of the I am, as the foundation, in which is misinterpreted We have, let's just go a
moment in Christianity, we have a historical
person probably Jesus, and we have Christ. Now, Christ was not his actual name, it was a title given later, and that's already mentioned in the more enlightened
parts of the new Testament, that Christ is a dimension
of consciousness. And I believe it's St. Paul who says, "I must diminish, and
Christ in me must grow." This is a mystical deeper
interpretation of Jesus who was a historical person,
who realized his kinship with the transcendent
dimension, the divine, whatever you want to call it. He realized his
connectedness, his kinship, his oneness with that and as
he realized that, he became, the transcendent dimension emerged in him as it does in you, it emerged in him, and then
the historical person Jesus, became the Christ. Therefore we have in
mystical Christianity, the term Christ consciousness, which is the transcendent
consciousness that emerges where before there was only the person. And we have in certain
Buddhist traditions, the term Buddha-nature, that there is, that every human being and
everything that's alive has at the core of their
being is Buddha-nature or the Buddha, as the
reality of who you are, that's the teaching in
some Buddhist traditions. And it's a beautiful teaching that your true nature is Buddha-nature, and you just have to realize your true nature is Buddha-nature. Isn't that what we've been talking about? It's just a different name attached to it. In mystical Christianity,
it's Christ consciousness. And so Jesus was a
precursor who showed the way to Christ consciousness. And if focusing on the
historical figure of Jesus and realizing that he
embodies both the person and the Christ can
become a vehicle for you, if that is suitable for you, and if you still feel
drawn to Christianity or any other religion, that is the way for you
to go, deepen than that rather than think you have
to move into something else, but if that doesn't
work for you, then fine, then walk away and find Christ
consciousness somewhere else. And some people don't need any
religious structure anymore. At least for the first time perhaps, in the evolution of humanity, there's spirituality that exists outside of formalized religions. And that's an amazing thing. So, many of you may not need
the formalized religion anymore and others may need it, and
that is a beautiful thing. You can deepen the way in
which you live, practice, and understand your religion
so that it becomes an opening into the transcendent
dimension within yourself. If you are a Christian and want
to deepen certain readings, I would highly recommend
there were certain teachers who expressed the truth of
Christianity from a deeper level than the conventional church Christianity. The most in the past, Meister Eckhart, who lived in the early middle
ages, the most wonderful. His writings are superb and fantastic depths to them, and he uses Christianity
to take you very, very deep into the core of it all, the core of all things into yourself. Other mystical writers in
the middle ages are good too. Some Spanish ones, some are German ones, and more recently, I would recommend Course in Miracles, which uses Christian
terminology throughout, which to some people is
obnoxious, can't stand it, and others say, "Wow, now
I understand Christianity much better." And Joel Goldsmith, he was a teacher in the 50s and 60s, also reinterprets Christianity
and makes it deeper, discovers the depths
dimension that's there. And other religions have the same. You have deep teachings in Judaism, you have deep teachings in Islam, you have deep teachings
obviously in Buddhism. So, there's the superficial
level to religion and if that's all there is for you, it would probably become an ideology, and then it becomes a barrier or if understood more deeply,
it can become an opening. (soft instrumental music) This mind-made sense of self
is also much more focused on the negative than the positive. To be free, you awaken to who you are beyond your history and
your life situation. (soft instrumental music) (waterfall roaring)
